The majority of fiscal year 2009 FOIA requests received by the Commission were for materials contained in the Commission’s investigative case files that involved charges of discrimination filed pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et. seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-633, the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-213. Sections 706(b) and 709(e) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(b) and 8(e), and §107 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12117 prohibit Commission employees from making Title VII or ADA charges, conciliation materials, required reports and case file information public. In certain instances, parties to the charge are entitled access to the disclosable portions of the charge file. Examples of non-disclosable material in charge files are discussed in detail in section XII of this report.

FTS - FOIA Tracking System. The FTS tracks all incoming FOIA requests and appeals, as well as requests submitted through the Requester Service Center. The FTS also captures information required for the Annual FOIA Report.

Definitions of Terms Used in this Report

Administrative Appeal – a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a FOIA determination made by the agency at the initial request level.

Average Number – the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.

Backlog – the number of requests or administrative appeals that are pending at an agency at the end of the fiscal year that are beyond the statutory time period for a response.

Component - for agencies that process requests on a decentralized basis, a “component” is an entity, also sometimes referred to as an Office, Division, Bureau, Center, or Directorate, within the agency that processes FOIA requests. The FOIA now requires that agencies include in their Annual FOIA Report data for both the agency overall and for each principal component of the agency.

Consultation – the procedure whereby the agency responding to a FOIA request first forwards a record to another agency for its review because that other agency has an interest in the document. Once the agency in receipt of the consultation finishes its review of the record, it responds back to the agency that forwarded it. That agency, in turn, will then respond to the FOIA requester.

Exemption 3 Statute – a federal statute that exempts information from disclosure and which the agency relies on to withhold information under subsection (b)(3) of the FOIA.

FOIA Request – a FOIA request is generally a request to a federal agency for access to records concerning another person (i.e., a “third-party” request), or concerning an organization, or a particular topic of interest. FOIA requests also include requests made by requesters seeking records concerning themselves (i.e., “first-party” requests) when those requesters are not subject to the Privacy Act, such as non-U.S. citizens. Moreover, because all first-party requesters should be afforded the benefit of both the access provisions of the FOIA as well as those of the Privacy Act, FOIA requests also include any first-party requests where an agency determines that it must search beyond its Privacy Act “systems of records” or where a Privacy Act exemption applies, and the agency looks to FOIA to afford the greatest possible access. All requests which require the agency to utilize the FOIA in responding to the requester are included in this Report.

Additionally, a FOIA request includes records referred to the agency for processing and direct response to the requester. It does not, however, include records for which the agency has received a consultation from another agency. (Consultations are reported separately in Section XII of this Report.)

Full Grant – an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.

Full Denial – an agency decision not to release any records in response to a FOIA request because the records are exempt in their entireties under one or more of the FOIA exemptions, or because of a procedural reason, such as when no records could be located.

Median Number – the middle, not average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.

Multi-Track Processing – a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests granted expedited processing are placed in yet another track. Requests in each track are processed on a first in/first out basis.

Expedited Processing – an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester satisfies the requirements for expedited processing as set forth in the statute and in agency regulations.

Simple Request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the low volume and/or simplicity of the records requested.

Complex Request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the high volume and/or complexity of the records requested.

Partial Grant/Partial Denial – in response to a FOIA request, an agency decision to disclose portions of the records and to withhold other portions that are exempt under the FOIA, or to otherwise deny a portion of the request for a procedural reason.

Pending Request or Pending Administrative Appeal – a request or administrative appeal for which an agency has not taken final action in all respects.

Perfected Request – a request for records which reasonably describes such records and is made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any) and procedures to be followed.

Processed Request or Processed Administrative Appeal – a request or administrative appeal for which an agency has taken final action in all respects.

Range in Number of Days – the lowest and highest number of days to process requests or administrative appeals.

Section 83 – refers to Section 83 of the EEOC Compliance Manual Section I which provides for access to relevant case files by charging parties, aggrieved persons on whose behalf a charge has been filed, and entities against whom charges have been filed. 29 C.F.R.§ 1610.17(d).

Time Limits – the time period in the statute for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily twenty working days from receipt of a perfected FOIA request).

Exemption 3 - information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law.

Exemption 4 - trade secrets and other confidential business information.

Exemption 5 - inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges.

Exemption 6 - information involving matters of personal privacy.

Exemption 7 - records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those records (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.

*Footnote: Any difference in the number of requests pending at the end of fiscal year 2009 and the number pending at the beginning of fiscal year 2010 is attributable to corrections to the business rules for calculating report data in the EEOC FOIA Tracking System (FTS). The former business rules did not properly factor out holidays and weekends, or calculate days from the date a request was perfected.

V.B.(1) Disposition of FOIA Requests – All Processed Requests

Number of Full Grants

Number of Partial Grants/ Partial Denials

Number of Full Denials Based on Exemptions

Number of Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions

No Records

All Records Referred to Another Component or Agency

Request Withdrawn

Fee-Related Reason

Records not Reasonably Described

Improper FOIA Request for Other Reasons

Not Agency Record

Duplicate Request

Other

TOTAL

Atlanta

2

430

47

2

1

4

0

0

1

3

21

78

589

Birmingham

2

6993

161

6

0

6

0

10

4

1

14

29

932

Charlotte

5

964

32

0

2

2

0

0

1

0

3

50

1,059

Chicago

47

634

108

5

2

2

0

0

1

0

3

136

938

Dallas

205

1,178

140

8

5

20

3

1

8

2

16

181

1,767

Houston

8

726

85

5

0

3

0

3

0

1

6

63

900

Indianapolis

202

1,568

133

66

33

5

0

1

48

2

111

240

2,409

Los Angeles

22

331

109

165

0

1

1

0

19

0

10

82

740

Memphis

16

677

86

12

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

16

809

Miami

159

723

424

8

3

3

0

2

21

0

28

335

1,706

New York

12

430

57

5

2

1

0

0

8

0

5

100

620

OLC/HDQ

92

33

92

51

12

2

2

11

14

0

12

60

381

Philadelphia

4

942

149

19

64

6

7

8

1

3

22

111

1,336

Phoenix

21

303

95

4

6

0

0

0

0

0

2

36

467

San Francisco

24

400

55

22

0

3

0

0

0

1

0

36

541

St. Louis

85

803

70

2

0

2

0

0

0

0

8

45

1,015

WFO

2

68

23

3

10

0

0

0

0

6

4

18

134

AGENCY OVERALL

908

10,909

1,866

383

140

61

13

36

126

19

266

1,616

16,343

V.B.(2) Disposition of FOIA Requests – “Other” Reasons for “Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions” from Section V. B(1) Chart.

Component

Description of “Other” Reasons for Denials from Chart B(1) & Number of Times Those Reasons Were Relied Upon

TOTAL

Converted to Section 83

Files Lost

Files Destroyed

Atlanta

60

10

8

78

Birmingham

0

23

6

29

Charlotte

0

50

0

50

Chicago

0

64

72

136

Dallas

45

94

42

181

Houston

0

43

20

63

Indianapolis

1

122

117

240

Los Angeles

0

39

43

82

Memphis

0

10

6

16

Miami

9

298

28

335

New York

0

51

49

100

OLC/HDQ

0

1

59

60

Philadelphia

1

67

43

111

Phoenix

0

34

2

36

San Francisco

0

29

7

36

St. Louis

0

42

3

45

WFO

3

15

0

18

AGENCY OVERALL

119

992

505

1,616

V.B.(3) Disposition of FOIA Requests – number of Times Exemptions Applied

FOOTNOTE: Any difference in the number of appeals pending at the end of the fiscal year 2009 and the number pending at the beginning of fiscal year 2010 is attributable to corrections to the business rules for calculating report data in the EEOC FOIA Tracking System (FTS). The former business rules did not properly factor our holidays and weekends, or calculate days from the date an appeal was perfected.

VI.B. Disposition of Administrative Appeals – All Processed Appeals

Number Affirmed on Appeal

Number Partially Affirmed & Partially Reversed/Remanded on Appeal

Number Completely Reversed/Remanded on Appeal

Number of Appeals Closed for Other Reasons

TOTAL

121

86

56

39

302

VI.C.(1) Reasons for Denial on Appeal – Number of Times Exemptions Applied